twenty

there was rice
in the saltshakers
I married

the ketchups
rubbed spots
off silver wear

mostly wore
my hair down
back then

or didn’t but
remember it down
kept my money

in a sock
only had a fan
still prayed

mostly I saw
windows flying by
a little snow

if you dropped
pennies in me
you’d hear them

hit the bottom

—

Nicole Callihan’s most recent book is This Strange Garment, published by Terrapin Books in March 2023. Her other books include SuperLoop and the poetry chapbooks: The Deeply Flawed Human, Downtown, and ELSEWHERE (with Zoë Ryder White), as well as a novella, The Couples. Her work has appeared in Kenyon Review, Colorado Review, Conduit, The American Poetry Review, and as a Poem-a-Day selection from the Academy of American Poets. Find out more at www.nicolecallihan.com.